This disclosure relates generally to online payment transactions and, more specifically, to systems and methods for enabling one or more parties to an online transaction to accept liability for a payment card transaction.
Conventional payment card transaction systems enable a cardholder to purchase goods or services from a merchant with their payment card, such as a debit card or a credit card. At a time of sale, the cardholder presents their payment card information to the merchant for use to complete the purchase. A process of payment authorization is conducted before the purchase is completed. The merchant transmits the payment card information and other transaction data, such as a total payment amount, to a payment card network. The payment card network analyzes the transaction and forwards the transaction to an issuing bank (i.e., the creditor behind the cardholder's payment card). The issuing bank receives the transaction and either authorizes or declines the transaction.
Each party to the transaction (i.e., merchants, merchant acquirers, payment network, and issuing bank) has a role to play in the authorization process. Each party may allow or decline the authorization based on their respective roles, as well as their potential exposures. Conventional payment card transaction systems frequently have a default set of rules governing liability for the transaction when a transaction is disputed (e.g., who will be responsible when the cardholder does not pay). Each party may accept or decline a transaction based on their own individual authorization strategies. For example, one party may implement tighter fraud screening and scoring to help manage against potential fraud exposure (e.g., in card-not-present transactions). This may result in a declined transaction, a result that may not be favorable to other parties to the transaction.